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Priority should be given to quickly concluding the free trade
agreement with the US, given the likely re-election of George Bush,
the Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer, said last night.

There were still some "bits and pieces" of the agreement to tie
up, he said. "With the election out of the way, we hope we can get
that done pretty quickly," Mr Downer said.

Speaking as it became likely that Mr Bush would win the
election, but before a formal concession by John Kerry, Mr Downer
acknowledged Australian concerns about the huge US deficit.

"We hope very much that the Americans will now be able to
sustain significant rates of economic growth ... through that
process their deficit will reduce, and reduce very substantially,"
he said.

Mr Downer emphasised the importance of the US role in South-East
Asia in supporting the campaign against Jemaah Islamiah and other
terrorist organisations.

Washington continued to play a vital role in the region. "We
want to keep encouraging the Americans to remain actively engaged
in our region in the war against terrorism, not just elsewhere." Mr
Downer said Australia was certain to continue building on the "very
good relationship" it had with the Bush Administration.

Observers point to the close personal relationship the Prime
Minister, John Howard, has with the US President. Mr Howard's son,
Richard, worked for Mr Bush's re-election team and last month in
Jakarta the Prime Minister broke with convention, openly endorsing
the Republican nominee.

While Mr Howard unhesitatingly joined the US President's
coalition of the willing in Iraq, Mr Bush's re-election,
paradoxically, makes it less likely that Australia will be put
under as much pressure to contribute more troops to Iraq.

This is because Senator Kerry made it a priority of his foreign
policy to encourage allies to contribute more forces to Iraq.

Senator Kerry remains unfettered by any deals, or informal
understandings, between Mr Howard and Mr Bush for a limited
contribution to Iraq's reconstruction in exchange for Australia's
early involvement in the invasion.

The free trade agreement between Australia and the US will be
finalised by either presidential candidate. It received bipartisan
support in Congress and is generally considered advantageous for
the US after Australia caved in on agricultural access.

The US will continue looking to Australia to take a leadership
role in the Pacific and South-East Asia, regardless of the poll
outcome.

But Senator Kerry was widely seen as more likely to break with
current US and Australian policy which opposes the Kyoto protocol
on greenhouse gases and strongly backs Israel in its conflict with
the Palestinians.

The Democratic nominee was expected to scale back the
controversial US missile defence shield and show greater
willingness to negotiate with North Korea and Iran.

Both Senator Kerry and Mr Bush have said they will not allow
other countries to "veto" US foreign policy, but the Democratic
candidate is seen as more likely to back multilateralism.

For his part, the Opposition Leader, Mark Latham, will continue
to be haunted by his acerbic criticism last year when he described
Mr Bush as "the most incompetent and dangerous president in living
memory".